The Labour Party (LP) standard bearer, Peter Obi has berated the federal government for using the nation’s funds to sponsor civil servants for studies abroad.
In a series of tweet shared on Thursday, the former Anambra governor insisted that using tax payers money for such endeavors was inappropriate.
He argued that it was not sensible to sponsor government officials to foreign universities while the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is on strike.
The speaker of the House of Representative, Femi Gbajabiamila had recently come under fire for sharing pictures of him taking a course at Harvard University.
Also officials of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) had recently attended the advanced leadership programme of Judge Business School (JBS) at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Obi explained that if government employees must be sponsored with public funds then it should happen within Nigeria.
According to him: “Our public universities have been shut since 14 February, some five months and counting. Our students and future leaders are idling away at homes or in some undesirable places, while our government is spending millions in foreign currency, supposedly training public office holders in Ivy League universities across the world.
“Such misplaced priorities and government misuse of public funds is no longer acceptable, while the future of our youths are being neglected.
“Through such policy neglect, we are unwittingly breeding some societal misfits who will someday embark on vendettas & take revenge on our society.
As a matter as adaptive leadership, such trainings being sponsored with public funds should stop forthwith, until all our schools start functioning optimally.
“Meanwhile, such trainings if need be, must be mandated to happen only within Nigeria.”